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From John Adams, Minna
With less than seven months to the end of the Bello administration, the Niger State government has said that it will absolve no fewer than 3,000 unemployed youths into the state civil service in the 2023 fiscal year in other to reduce unemployment in the state.
To this end, the state government says it has earmarked N3billion in the state 2023 budget proposal submitted to the state House of Assembly for the salaries of the new jobs.
The Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Malam Zakari Abubakar, disclosed this at the weekend when he gave the 2023 budget breakdown, saying that the new jobs are expected to cost the government a monthly wage of N300million.
The last employment done by the state government was in 2008 during Governor Muazu Babangida Aliyu’s administration.
Currently, over 15,000 vacancies exist in the state civil service due to years of the embargo placed on employment in the state.
But the Commissioner for Budget and planning maintained that the current gesture is in line with the government’s commitment to providing jobs for the teeming youths of the state.
He pointed out that relevant government agencies in charge of state recruitment portal are already fine-tuning the employment processes, adding that, “Government is determined to solve the problem of unemployment in the state and this is the reason for making enough financial provision for the exercise in our next year budget.”
On the security challenges facing the state, the commissioner disclosed that N478.9million has been earmarked for the purchase of security gadgets for the local vigilante corps, the installation of a CCTV surveillance system around Minna, the state capital.
Speaking on other sectoral allocations, the Commissioner revealed that the infrastructure sub-sector got the highest allocation in the 2023 budget with over N53.4 billion for the completion of ongoing projects
“The sum of N15.8 billion goes to the health sector with N6.4 billion for the renovation of eight general hospitals, N5.5 billion for the PHC and its activities while N200 million goes to the provision of equipment to IBB Specialized Hospital Minna among others,” he said.
The entire 2023 budget, he stated, will be financed through Statutory Allocation of N61.0billon representing 25.57 per cent, Value Added Tax (VAT) of N35.6billion or 14.90 per cent, Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of N22.5billion, Excess Crude/Other Revenue of N4.2billion or 1.78 per cent and Capital Receipts of N115.4billion, representing 48.30 per cent.
